A blog about science fiction and fantasy novels, films and related matters

Sunday, 19 February 2017

Fractured Europe series, by Dave Hutchinson

There are three novels in the Fractured Europe sequence, which is probably all that we are going
to get as the third volume rounds off the story nicely and there is no hint of
any more.

The first is Europe
in Autumn. To paraphrase the back cover, this tale is set in a dystopian
near-future in which multiple economic crises and a flu pandemic have fractured
Europe into countless tiny nations, duchies, polities and republics. Among
these is The Line, a nation consisting of a narrow strip of land enclosing a
trans-European railway. I was mildly amused to note that while the failure of
the EU and the fracturing of Europe remain possibilities the author has already
been overtaken by recent events, in that his England is seen as the strongest
supporter of what remains of the EU!

The story focuses on the life of Rudi, who we first see as a
chef in a restaurant in Kraków but then becomes recruited by Les Coureurs des Bois, a secretive but
powerful organisation which is primarily concerned with transporting packages
(live or otherwise) through Europe's complex maze of customs barriers and
passport controls – but they have also become involved in espionage.

We see Rudi in glimpses over time, as he tackles missions of
ever-increasing complexity and danger. The final one is the most intriguing as
it introduces a new concept – a Europe which exists on, and apparently was
brought into existence by, fantasy maps drawn by a British cartrographic family
in the past, indicating a parallel world – the Community – which could be
entered by those who knew how.

---------------------------------------------

The second volume, Europe
at Midnight, starts with a 50-page sequence in the Campus – a strange,
enclosed land some two hundred miles across, surrounded by mountains – and also
by booby-traps which prevent anyone from leaving. The land is entirely occupied
by a huge, dispersed university previously run on hereditary lines, at which a
revolution –The Fall – had taken place a few months earlier. The story follows
the new Professor of Intelligence as he investigates the crimes of the Old
Board and also the various attempts to escape. The rest of the book
intersperses the first-person viewpoint of the unnamed Professor with
third-person viewpoints of others.

The plot then returns to the Fractured Europe universe with
the focus on Jim, an English secret service agent who is roped into
investigating incredible reports concerning a parallel world called the
Community. His scepticism is soon dented when a real live escapee from the
Campus turns up, at which point the two plot threads come together. And –
halfway though the book – Les Coureurs
des Bois make a reappearance.

The third setting for the story, the Community, features in
much of the rest of the book. This is a strange version of Europe, basically
like 1950s Britain throughout, and very well-controlled. The tension rises as
various plot threads tying together Fractured Europe and the Community head
towards a conclusion.

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The third volume, Europe
in Winter has, rather oddly, more in common with the first volume than the
second, as attention again switches to Rudi and we hear the rest of his story
against the background of the competition between the Community and Fractured
Europe. One of the giant, high-speed trains of the trans-European express is
destroyed by sabotage – but who did it, and why? And what is the Community
really up to?

Various other characters appear, some from the previous
volumes, some new, although unless you have a more retentive memory than mine
it might be hard to work out which ones we have met before. This meant that I
was struggling to understand the context of many of the scenes, but I still
enjoyed the read as the author spins such an intriguing tale.

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The paraphrase which popped into my mind with these books
was "this is SFF Jim, but not as we know it". Full marks for
originality, and for high-quality story-telling. I did find it a little
confusing at times due to the number of characters and the switches of
viewpoint, but it repaid the effort involved. I hope to revisit these three
before too long, but without any gaps in between and making notes of the main
characters when I first encounter them!

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